Emmanuel Osei Kuffour reveals what they did to Charles Taylor and Asante Kotoko coach to win the CAF Confederation Cup in Kumasi

Hearts of Oak won the inaugural CAF Confederations Cup in 2004, defeating Asante Kotoko 8-7 on penalties after the tie ended two-all on aggregate.

The most vivid memory of the second leg at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium was Hearts equalising a few minutes after Kotoko coach Hans Dieter-Schmidt substituted Charles Taylor.

Many Kotoko fans still blame the coach’s decision for their defeat. Meanwhile, Hearts of Oak supporters boast that their ‘operations’ regarding the substitution were spot on.

Former Hearts midfielder Emmanuel Osei Kuffour has admitted that they used juju on the manager and believes it worked because Kotoko was led by a white coach.

“Yeah the coach was white, not black that’s why it worked. If he were to be black I think he wouldn’t have substituted him but because he was white it worked easily,” he told Dan Kwaku Yeboah TV on YouTube.

“For juju everyone does it but for me, I don’t understand why it worked on the white man. Because I’m very sure that it wouldn’t have worked if he were a black man.

He also revealed that during the game, they warned Taylor to walk off the pitch or else he will be substituted.

“He was our (former)teammate and the intention wasn’t to fight him. It’s football and we wanted to tell him what’s good for him and that he should “leave the pitch. It will be better for you to leave. If you don’t leave, we will let your coach sub you off.”

The first leg of the final ended one-all at the Accra Sports Stadium. Louis Agyemang netted a 90th minutes equaliser for Hearts of Oak after Michael Osei had given Kotoko the lead on the hour mark.

During the second leg in Kumasi, Charles Taylor put the home side ahead in the 53 minutes, before Lawrence Adjah-Tetteh pulled parity inside the 80th minute to send the match into extra time.

Hearts went on to clinch the trophy that was dubbed ‘the virgin cup’ via penalty shootouts.

Francis jojo Bossman
Emmanuel Osei Kuffuor,
Acquah Harrison,
Ablaze Morgan
Lawrence Adjei,
Adjah Tetteh and Michael Donkor scored their penalty for Hearts while skipper Amankwah Mireku missed his penalty kick.

For Ashante Kotoko, Issah Ahmed
Frank Osei,
Yusif Chibsah
Michael Asante
Godfred Yeboah
Dan Yeboah and Michael Ofosu-Appiah scored from their penalty kicks while Edmund Owusu-Ansah and skipper Joseph Hendricks missed their penalty kicks.

The Phobians following their triumph made history by becoming the first club to win all three CAF Inter-Club Competitions – CAF Champions League (2000), CAF Confederations Cup(2004) and CAF Champions of Champions- Super Cup (200).

HEARTS LINE-UP
SANNIE MOHAMMED
DANIEL QUAYE
AMANKWAH MIREKU
ACQUAH HARRISON
MICHAEL DONKOH
FRANCIS JOJO BOSSMAN
EMMANUEL OSEI KUFFOUR
ADJAH TETTEH
LAWRENCE ADJEI
LOUIS AGYEMANG
DONG BORTEY
PRINCE TAGOE
MORGAN ABLADE.

HEARTS MANAGER: CECIL JONES ATTUQUAYEFIO

KUMASI ASHANTE KOTOKO LINE-UP

GEORGE OWU
MICHAEL OFUSO AMOAH
GODFRED YEBOAH,
JOE HENDRICKS
ISSA AHMED,
STEPHEN ODURO,
YUSIF CHIBSAH,
MICHAEL ASANTE,
MICHAEL OSEI
NANA ARHIN DUAH
FRANK OSEI
CHARLES TAYLOR
EDMUND OWUSU ANSAH

KOTOKO MANAGER: HANS DIETER SCHMIDT

source: Ghana Web